Boot or shoe lining.



UNITED STATES- Patented August 4, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH A. BURLEIGH, OF LAOONIA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO MRS. VIVIAN DAVIES SMITH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SMITH, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOOT OR SHOE LINING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 735,459, dated August 4, 1903.

Application filed January 17, 1903. Serial 1 144 N M05619 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. BURLEIGH, of Laconia, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot or Shoe Lin ings, of which the following is a specification,

This invention has for its object to provide for boots and shoes, and particularly for waterproof boots and shoes composed wholly or I0 in part of rubber, a lining which while constituting an effective substitute for the felt usually employed in respect to warmth and softness shall be superior to felt in that it is practically non-absorbent and is adapted to be quickly dried.

It is well known that linings of felted wool or other f elting-hairs are extrem ely porous and when saturated with water dry very slowly.

Myinvention consistsinalining fabric com prising short non-felting hairs such as horse or cow hairs, preferably mixed with a small proportion of longer fibers, such as wool or cotton and spun or twisted into relatively coarse fillingthreads which are interwoven with andheld in place by warp-threads of finer texture and greater tensile strength, said warp threads being preferably composed wholly of cotton or of a mixture of cotton and wool. The relatively coarse filling-threads, 3o composed wholly or in partof short non-felting hairs, present large numbers of ends on the surface of the fabric, thus giving the fabric the desired softness and fleecy quality, the relative coarseness of the filling-threads causing them to practically cover the relatively fine warp -threads, so that the hair fibers collectively'constitute the facing of the inner surface of the lined boot or shoe or the principal part of said facing.

I have found that alining fabric compris ing non-felting hairs assembled to form filling-threads, or the chief portions thereof, does not absorb moisture as readily and to such an extent as the thinnest felt lining that 5 can be used in a boot or shoe, so that my improved lining does not acquire dampness from the feet when in use and dries much more quickly than a felt lining after being wet by water entering the boot or shoe. The non-felting hair fabric is, moreover, more durable than felt, owing to the fact that it is spun 0r twisted and associated with warpthreads of superior tensile strength. The said hair fabric is also cheaper than felt, because of the low price of cows hair as compared with wool.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a sectional View of a portion of a rubber boot provided with my improved lining. Fig. 2 6e represents an enlarged side view of a piece of the lining fabric. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents the foot portion of a rubber boot or shoe, and b represents my improved lining, which is composed of relatively coarse filling-threads f of short non-felting hair (preferably cows hair and preferably'mixed with a small proportion of more pliable and less slippery fibers, such as cotton and wool or'a mixture of cotton and wool) and relativelyfine warp-threads 5 of greater tensile strength than the fillingthreads, the warp-threads being preferably composedof a mixture of cotton and wool, although they may be composed wholly of either material. I prefer to so proportion the different fibers that the non-felting fibers will constitute about seventy-fiveper cent. of the weight of the fabric. The fabric thus formed may be united to the interior of a rubber boot by applying a layer 6 ofunvulcanized rubber to one side of the fabric, then partially vulcanizing said layer to cause its firm adhesion to the fabric, and then applying the rubber layer to the interior of the unvulcanized boot or shoe, and vulcanizing the whole to unite the layerewith the body of the boot 9c or shoe.

I claim-- A boot or shoe having a lining composed of relatively coarse fillingthreads which inelude short non-felting hair, and binding or In testimony whereof I have affixecl my sigretaining threads of finer texture and greater nature in presence of tWo Witnesses. tensile strength than the filling-threads, the JOSEPH A BURLEIGH Whole being attached to the interior of the 5 boot or shoe, said filling-threads collectively WVitnesses:

' forming a relatively non-absorbent inner face SUSAN M. HATHON, adapted to dry quickly. 1 HERMAN J. ODELL. 

